Homesteading on The 40 Acre Wood: So It Begins

by Meghan // August 20, 2015 // Comments off

So It Begins: the beginning of our little homestead

watching the hummingbirds

Since I was little, maybe four or five years old, I knew I wanted to live on a farm. I dreamed of rolling hills, trees, and white fences, and of course a barn full of animals that would keep me busy.

Though my mom, dad, brother and I lived in the suburbs, all our family lived in the country; both sets of grandparents gardened, canned, sat on porch swings, shot BB guns with us, fished from their ponds, and cooked from scratch. It was truly living the dream for my brother and me, every summer, all summer long.

I’ve always wanted to live on a farm and that is a goal of mine till this day.

I never stopped dreaming of the farm I wanted, but I never saw it in my future. It seemed unattainable.

*Enter my husband*

My husband is a dreamer. But he isn’t a dreamer by definition- he is a dreamer that sees a dream, sets a goal, and gets ‘er done. So, maybe he is in fact a “do-er.”

About 6 years ago he told me one day we could have a little homestead.

I couldn’t see past our current situation, and told him with 100% certainty, he was crazy.

But here we are; in 2015 moving into our dream home, on land.

By dream home, I don’t mean what most people would define as a dream home. It isn’t brand new, fancy, or big. It doesn’t have 5 bathrooms, or a bedroom for every person in the family.

(It does have my dream front porch, a lovely kitchen with a window that overlooks the back yard where my babies will play and the chickens and guineas will run around, a big gas stove perfect for canning, and a big fireplace that heats the whole house. That is my *DREAM*)

The kids love it; there is tons of room for them to run, play in the dirt, ride their bikes. They like picking tomatoes in the garden and playing with our inherited barn cats.

What is most important to my husband and me though, is that it our kids can mostly free range on our property, safely. We can raise our family on our own land to: hunt, fish, ride 4wheelers, garden, raise our own food, and learn how to appreciate God’s hard work.

We can live slowly and simply without the busy rush, rush, rush of the rat race life so many consider their dream.

It is going to be a lot of work, but man is it all going to be worth it. I can’t wait to share updates with you all, as well as things I learn on “the farm.” We will spend the winter getting part of the barn in order for our chickens and guineas, expanding the garden, prepping firewood, and maybe working with fencing.

What to name a farm?!

We started calling it “the farm” after we started working on in the garden and yard this summer. I am trying to give it a real name, so far all I have really loved is The Forty Acre Wood- but that seems kinds silly. So we will see. =)

Preserving {freezing} Tomatoes for the Winter

by Meghan // October 10, 2013 // Comments off

We had hundreds of tomatoes come off our plants this year. So with the ones we didn’t eat right away, I did one of two things. I either 1) fermented them for sauces and put them up in cold storage, or 2) I blanched and froze them.

Here is how I blanched them. It is SO easy. Before I knew about fermenting, this is how JTom and I always put up our tomatoes.

You will need:

Clean tomatoes with a small X cut into the skin
a pot of boiling water
a large slotted spoon
a large bowl for an ice bath
a bowl for skins
a bowl for skinned tomatoes (or you can put directly into the freezer bags if you have some help)
freezer bags

Here are my clean tomatoes and my pot of boiling water:

Here’s what you do (I set up an assembly line):

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil
2. While it is coming up, cut small Xes in tomato skins (this allows the hot water to get under the skin and it will literally pop right off)

3. Place some of the tomatoes into the boiling water for 45 seconds. This is called blanching. If you are doing rather small tomatoes, I would only do 30 seconds. 45 seconds was perfect for me.

4. Remove tomatoes from boiling water and place directly into ice bath. This stops the blanching process.

5. Using your hands, peel the tomato skins off (they should just slide right off).
Discard the skins in a bowl (I was using a pot) and place the tomatoes in freezer bags. I did about 5 bowls full, so instead of placing them directly into freezer bags, I just put them all in a bowl so I could go back to blanching. Then I bagged them all up when I was completely done blanching.

Make sense? =/

**Here is also where you can add seasonings- for chilli, spaghetti, salsa, etc., directly into the freezer bag. Just be sure to label your bags! You can also dice the tomatoes, cut in half, before freezing. I just left mine whole, because I just use a spoon and cut them in half while I am cooking … and I didn’t want to make a bigger mess at the time.

6. Place bags in freezer!

How easy is that? I did this while the kids ate breakfast and we talked about of character trait for this week (love) and recited memory work. It took me all of 10 minutes?

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Weekly Wrap-Up Sept 20, 2013- Play With Me by Marie Hall Ets

by Meghan // September 23, 2013 // Comments off

This last week has been a LOT of fun!

We started each day off with Bible time at beakfast, like always. We also did our memory work here- Lexie has learned Matthew 7:12, and a poem about the wind over the course of the last few weeks. I thought about doing a weekly verse and a weekly poem, but at this age I feel like maybe that’s just too much. So I think we will do one or two a month. Oh, and she has both memorized already. We will just continue reviewing them.

Then we did a few chores and went down stairs for calendar, and story time. Here is when Mister plays with us, we do a little circle time, and
Pooh series by A.A.Milne. We are reading The House At Pooh Corner.

And Lexie just loves it. She asks to read the chapters over and over, and retells the stories. She likes t be sure she gets every detail correct. Maybe she is a future writer? =)

We also have my original collection in one bound book, I think it was what I got on my first Christmas? Or maybe later, but I know I was young. It is my favorite book.

Each day we read our weekly BFIAR story, which was Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets.

Lexie LOVED this story, and the activities we did with it (we used the pond pack from Homeschool Creations and Homeschool Share). She had me read it over and over and over … while I read, she colored or we snuggled.

The activities were a lot of fun, and included a “Who Am I?” clue word game, and gluing which is Lexie’s favorite!

(this is actually a tracing activity we didn’t get to last week for our BFIAR story, and she wanted to do it)

We also went to the library to play and get our apple and fall books for this week. (YAY!)

One day we went to the park and played. There, we collected tiny pine cones, talked about what animals might live there, climbed a tree, blew dandelions … you know the typical nature walk kinda things. =)

Friday we packed up and went camping at Neobrara State Park. It was awesome, and a much needed family weekend. I will write about it another time. =)

This week we finished (FINALLY!) our thank you cards from Bug and Mister’s birthdays. Now I just have to get them addressed and in the mail ..

We also had a wonderful playdate at a friend’s house, played outside a ton (LOVE fall weather), and worked in the garden. Lexie is such a great helper in the garden and enjoys finding what we have on the vine each morning.

Her Great-grandaddy Payne would be proud of his littler gardener.

Protector of the tomatoes (Scarlet likes to eat them off the plant ..)

Playing outside with Lilly

Mister and his favorite person- “dag dag!” = dog dog!

Sweet bear at the park, just hanging out and climbing on the slide.

he was actually tasting leaves …

The result of her big morning at the park. First day of a nap in 2 weeks- AAAAH!

Since she took a nap, she got to go to walmart late with mama- check out the sundress and camo boots!

Some of the last few days’ harvest- what are now fermented tomatoes!

He just loves to eat

waky waky sleepy Lexie!

Loves for his dog dog

What did you do this past week with your littles and family?

Baby Summary Weeks 35-36

by Meghan // May 21, 2013 // Comments off

Max hit the 37 week mark yesterday, so this is a post for the last two weeks of his life.

To say Max ha started eating is an understatement. The boy is devouring finger foods. Everything from dried blueberries and apples to sausage and sauerkraut! He ate the sauerkraut like it was running away from him! This weekend he enjoyed my cucumber and tomato salad in oil and vinegar … with garlic! We still do pureed foods just because sometimes I don’t have a meal made that doesn’t have dairy in it, but he is eating a LOT more finger foods. I can’t wait for him to try watermelon and cantaloupe this summer.

We still only have two teeth, but I think he is working on the top two. They’re a little white but not puffy yet. He has been napping great! Most days are 2 1.5 hour naps, sometimes a cat nap at 4:30 if he is really tired. But we usually just do early bedtime at 6:30pm instead.

Crawling … well, he is moving about 2 feet at a time before he falls on his belly and decides to roll over. So yes, he is crawling, but not for long distances. He rolls and scoots around a LOT more than he does crawl. **EDIT: he crawled all the way across the living room floor today! I know, it’s a 37 week update, but had to add it! YAY MAX!**

He enjoys being outside, and playing in the water. We have had beautiful, warm weather as of late. So Mama has been laying out while the kids play. He sits in the baby blow up bath tub and Lexie plays in her kiddie pool. Speaking of which, they are finishing our fence! Woo hoo! I am so excited. It should be complete tomorrow morning. They did most of it today. Lexie is so excited, she has been waiting on her fence for a very long 3 months.

Helping mama make the salad …

Last weekend was Mother’s day; we went to church at the Methodist church (which I liked a lot, surprisingly, coming from a full gospel girl. It was really homey). JTom got me a bread maker for Mother’s day- woo hoo! We have already used it several times and LOVE it. way better than doing it by hand, any day.

This past weekend we stayed home and worked around the house. JTom and Lexie got the garden in and JTom got the sprinklers set up in the flower bed. He cut into the sprinkler system and put little sprayers in the flower beds. They’re really cute. Our garden this year is just: tomatoes (roma, big beef, early girl, burly boys, and cherry), red and green bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and butternut squash. We put the bed in on the south side of the house, where they dug out for flower beds. It’s the perfect spot, and J.Tom may cut in some sprayers for the garden as well. I sure hope so.

I got some petunias for the back porch and filled the hanging baskets for the front, like I do every year. Lexie and I planted some giant impatience in a big pot for the front porch; they smell SO good. (I love having a front door that we use to come into the house)

JTom also got some new burners for the inside of his grill, so we can get back to grilling again soon.

Overall it has been a low key couple of weeks. Some how things have seemed really busy, but in all honesty we haven’t been super busy.

How have you spent your last few weeks? Anything exciting happening?

water play

she couldn’t resist; we didn’t have a kiddie pool yet

Mmm blueberries

Our record heat one day last week- 100 degrees here in lil ole York (we had snow on the ground the week before …)

Daddy and Mister

Reading a gymnastics books while waiting on class to start.

My morning Yoga

Mmmm Cucumber!

My Mister’s curls

wearing Daddy’s hat and looking like my cousin Wesley’s twin when he was this age. Like, if she didn’t have on the lace night gown, she would look exactly like him.

wearing daddy’s hat

Beans, Beans

by Meghan // April 12, 2013 // Comments off

With Spring in the air, Lexie has bee learning all about plants and how they grow. So, we decided to plant some beans! I wanted her to see how the beans change from a seed to a plant, but didn’t really want to do the baggie thing. SO I did a little googling, and I I found this great idea over at The Imagination Tree. (People like to make fun of my glass jar obsession …) But she used a glass jar and cotton balls to grow beans! Genius! The best part is, it is easy, not messy, and Lexie could do it all on her own.

So I grabbed ~~one of my many jars~~ a jar, and gave her the cotton balls.

She put them in the jar..

Then she added the beans to the side of the jar, so we could see them.

Next we watered the beans. And this is what we have a few weeks later!

The great big bean didn’t do anything for a week, then one morning it had started growing!
It is going at a slower pace than the other.

This one is really taking off, and is probably ready to be planted. I am not sure why it took them 2 weeks to grow this much? They are in an east facing window, so maybe that is why?

Lexie loves telling everyone about her beans, and checking on them every day. She does so good not to touch them, but likes to pick up the jar and stare. =) This was a very fun project for her, and for me!

Hopefully this week/end we are going to get our herb seeds planted!

Max Baby Summary: 29/30 weeks

by Meghan // April 9, 2013 // Comments off

Wow, I know. I’m behind… Max is now 7 months old/31 weeks. This is the update for his last (month) week, which was 30weeks old/the week he turned 7 months.

We have two teeth! The first one was his bottom center right, and it came in about a week ago. 3 days later the left tooth came through. The left one seems to really be bothering him today; he’s been pulling on his ears and chewing his fingers … but of course he hurts himself now when he chews them because there are teeth in there! Haha! It won’t be long before we will have to make a dentist appointment for him; he’s growing up so fast. I want to make sure that for his first dentist visit, we go somewhere who offer Children’s Dentistry as at least that way they know how to properly treat young children so that they are used to going to the dentist and not scared, (like I am). My friend takes her children to this Dentist in Sarasota, which is where they live, and they are supposed to be very good in treating children. So, I think I may look for a dentist local to us that offers a similar service so that his first visit is a good one.

He is sitting up all the time by himself (that actually started about a month ago). He is much more balanced. I noticed when Lexie was his age, in the middle of April she was pulling up on things and turning herself around while sitting. I’m wondering if it is harder for him because we have carpet now? Lexie had hardwood floors to spin on. If Max were sitting on hardwood floors, then everytime he leans over or reaches for something he would realize, ‘Hey, I can move!” haha I may get the foam ABC mat out that Lexie used and put it down instead of the quilt they play on.. But I’m not sure how well it will work on carpet.

He is babbling a LOT! Lexie taught him to say “dadadadadada” a few weeks ago. I’ve been working with him to say “dada” when JTom comes home or is holding him. Two days ago, the boy looked at his daddy and said, “dada,” then when JTom didn’t say anything back Max said, “dada,” until his daddy replied. Then he just beamed! JTom was very proud. =) So we are pretty well convinced he knows JTom is DaDa. He has a few other babble sounds he makes and is so proud of himself. Max is also signing for milk. He signs it when he is waiting for me to make his bottle, when I sign it to him, while he is drinking his bottle… so next we are going to do “more” and “please.”

He is wearing 12 month clothes (he has a few 9mo that he can wear). About 5 days ago, he woke up and had a head full of hair?! Prior to that he had a “mohawk.” Then 2 days ago he woke up with lighter hair! It’s crazy how babies literally change over night! His eyes … well I am going to let you decide from the pictures. I really don’t know. The centers look light green, but overall they’re just really blue.

Max’s 6 month dr apt went well. He started a new medicine, I think it is prilosec for babies. They compound it at the pharmacy. The taste is terrible so he has a hard time swallowing it (even with added flavoring) but it has helped tremendously! He went from barely eating and taking bottles to eating a LOT more! I think he has gained 5 lbs in the last 3 weeks. haha He has been eating peas, green beans, carrots, apples, apples w blueberries, and avacado with no problems. Bananas constipated him for a day or so, so he hasn’t had them anymore. But there have been no problems with anything else as far as reflux goes! What a blessing and answered prayer.

His sleep has finally gotten a little better for naps, and here is what his routine looks like:
6:45/7:15 wake
7:00/7:15 up, medicine, eat
7:45 independent play in pack n play
8:00/8:15 go downstairs to do calendar and activities with Lexie
8:50 wind down for nap
8:55-9 asleep (usually a 1hr10min-1.5hr nap)
10:15-10:45 wake up
11:00/11:15 eat, play
12:30-1:00 down for nap; we do 12:30 if he was SUPER tired from a short first nap, but 1:00 if not
2:00-3:00 wake up; time depends on what time he went down for second nap. (Usually a 1hr10min-1.5hr nap)
3:00 eat, play
sometimes he takes a cat nap (he is in the process of dropping this nap)
Ideally, his dinner is 6:00, bedtime is 7pm
On days he doesn’t get good sleep (usually if naps are interrupted it’s with a poopy diaper, or we go to the library for story time…) then we do bedtime an hour early, so asleep at 6pm. That helps his catch up on sleep, and keeps him from getting in an over tired cycle which can take weeks for a small child to get out of.

Lexie is doing great. She still enjoys gymnastics, and has all her “imaginary” friends. We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears, along with Billy Goats Gruff and the Three Little Pigs recently … now everything is a “daddy fill in the blank” “mommy fill in the blank,” or a “baby/Lexie fill in the blank.” Obviously this goes according to size of said object. =)

reading

She started letting me wash her hair in the kitchen sink, so hair washing and bath time are no longer a fight. She was doing great, and then about 4(?) or so weeks ago, it became an absolute screaming, tearful battle to get her in the tub so I could wash her hair. She doesn’t like teh water to get in her ears or eyes. Of course we did EVERYTHING to prevent this, but when
she is screaming and moving around, it becomes impossible to keep the water only on her hair …. After I convinced her the kitchen sink would be fun, and that my Memaw washed my hair in the kitchen sink, she was okay with it. =)

Two weekends ago, Spring hit Nebraska. Although this coming week is supposed to be stormy and cold, the last two weeks have been warm and sunny. We don’t do the Easter Bunny, so Lexie got a spring basket with some new learning toys and a few necessities. We gave her a Thomas the Engine (electric) toothbrush, some new PJs, new dry erase markers for her dry erase board, a pair of fiskar kid’s scissors, and some accessories for her light table. (The light table is a whole other post! Look for it later this week or next!)

She also got her first real kite! In Nebraska it is very windy, and out where we live used to be cornfields, so there are no big trees around the house, they are all a street over at the park and school. So it’s the perfect place to fly a kite. She had so much fun!

In many of the pictures I am posting, the grass was just barely turning green, now it is all green and trees have started budding and blooming(?). Our garden season is off from the south by about a month, so we don’t need to get anything in the ground for a few more weeks, at the latest May 1st.

JTom has been traveling some with work. He went to Milan, Italy last week. He brought back three bottles of Italian wine and some parmesean cheese. I still haven’t tasted the Italian wine, but I am sure it will be great. The cheese … well it’s good! =) In Italy they put (very expensive) balsamic vinegar on a little piece (like a cube) or parmesean cheese and eat it. So when we went to Grand Island last weekend we got some of the good, “gourmet” (though no expensive…) balsamic vinegar and tried it on the cheese. YUM! New favorite snack, for sure.
He brought back some “monies from Italy” for Lexie and she was beyond pleased. haha I got a beautiful rosary, and the wine.

Turkey season in Nebraska has opened, so JTom may be hunting Saturday. He joined a hunting lease here, that covers hunting land all over Nebraska, and in other states as well. I told him if he brings home meat so I don’t have to buy nasty store meat, it will be worth it. He said “it’s called hunting, not killing. I can’t promise I will bring anything home.” So, we will see if we end up w a turkey in the freezer. =)

We have started planning our garden. We know we are going to get in tomatoes and maybe a few other things. We have to get the fence done soon, hopefully in the next few weeks. All of the pictures below are from March, so they are actually a few weeks old, or older. You will notice Max’s hair isn’t very thick. Look at his hair and fat rolls in the next posts with pictures! It’s crazy how quickly they change.

reading to Bubby

Mister Bear playing in the bath

reading her Bible to Max

I love to be upside down

new outfit

playing outside in the dirt

Happy Bear

Angel Baby

just minding my own business…..

Until now ….

picnic outside

happy bear

Mister outside in the exersaucer

Hi Mama- look at me!

Playing in the Dirt

by Meghan // February 23, 2012 // Comments off

I don’t have a green thumb, my husband does. However, he is so busy with work he has no time this year for the prepping and planting of our plants and garden. So yesterday I went to our county exchange office and got the boxes for our soil samples. Then I came home, dug up some dirt from the yard, garden, and flowers beds, and took it all back to the exchange office. We should have some test results in a few weeks; they will tell us what type of soil we have, what grows best, and offer suggestions based on what we said would be grown in each bed.

It has been such a long time since we have been able to spend time together outside I cannot wait to get out in the garden again. Which reminds me, a friend of mine has recently had to reach out to a pest control expert after her garden became infested with ants. Ants can be a nuisance when they get into your home. Although ants are not thought to carry diseases, the trouble is you cannot know where they have been foraging outside, so you do not want them inside your food cupboards. Correspondingly, if you are having trouble with ants in your house or garden, then you might want to call out a team of experts to find a solution. For more information about dealing with ants and other pests, go to https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/local/texas/dallas/.

Today, Lexie and I went to Lowe’s for some soil and flowers. While we were there I grabbed some herb seeds, a long planter, and some rosemary plants. I need another herb planter, though. I don’t have enough room in the one for each type of seed. They didn’t have any mint, which stinks- that is one of my favorite herbs! We got pansies for the big planters out doors, and a few clearance plants for pots in the house. Let’s pray I grow a green thumb soon…

Lexie helped me plant the herbs this morning, AKA, she played in the dirt with the “shovel” and watering can. This afternoon should be great fun! I will post pics.

—
OK, so no pics. =( My video camera has died. For good. And my other camera needs batteries and we are out. So I did take one or two with my phone, but am not going to take the time to upload them tonight.
However, as you can imagine, Lexie had a BLAST! She was covered head to tow in dirt, and mud. It was so warm here today, I turned the water spicket on low and let her just play in the water, with her ~~rain~~ gardening boots on, of course. She used the trowel to scoop dirt into the watering bucket, and helped put the pansies into their proper holes. We planted six pots, and still have a flat of flowers left. So it looks like I am going to go get some coconut baskets for my hanging baskets and plant in there, too.

Daddy came home for a minute since he has been in meetings for 3 days and hasn’t seen us at lunch; he helped me get the bird houses out and the paint to paint those. He built us some bird houses that you attach to the window with heavy duty suction cups! The side that faces the window is see through plexi glass, so you can see the birds in their nest! It was an idea I saw on pinterest, and JTom made it come to life. So anyway, I painted them the color of our shutters and after they finish drying and get another coat, we will put them up! Hopefully a little sparrow or some other little birds will make a nest in there and get used to us looking in on them.

I will try to get some pictures up of our pretty pansies and bird houses sometime this week or weekend.

-Meg